S.Y. Agnon’s Second Aliya

After the fire that destroyed his home and library in Germany, S.Y. Agnon returned to Jerusalem following Sukkot on October 31, 1924, right as the rainy season begins. This “second Aliya” (following his first arrival in 1908) set into motion a major new phase of his writing career and his return to traditional religious observance. “Tehilla,” one of his most beloved stories, is set exactly at the moment of his return, depicting an autobiographical projection of a first-person narrator, a mid-life author arriving in Jerusalem after years abroad, and his search for something of the old world (and Old City) he finds in that righteous title character—and his quest to find a way to have the old tradition take on meaning in the new world then forming in the Land of Israel.

These themes in Agnon’s writing and biography will be explored in an English talk with Jeffrey Saks on Zoom. “Tehilla” can be found in English in “Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town & Other Novellas” (Toby Press), and in Hebrew in “Ad Henah” (Schocken). Thursday, October 31 at 7pm (Israel time) = 1pm (Eastern) – note that Israel will have already changed to winter time, making it 1 hour closer to those still on DST.